A dream in which a giant with a spear stood over him, spear raised. And a bright glow enveloped the giant's head, gleaming white.
Suddenly he sat up.
It was no dream.
The point of the spear touched his stomach and he slid hastily away. His companion stood at his feet, and the full moon gleamed brightly behind his head. "Quickly, we will be in Jebel Barkal by daylight. Quickly."
"Ah, Regulus!" They looked, one to the other. "The Master of the Cobras! The Guardian of the Desert!"
These were the priests, the wise men. Each wore the mystic crown, the sun disk with the protecting uraei, the twin cobras, sacred to Amun. All of gold, even the band of the crown. Clothed in gowns of white, trimmed with gold. The chief priest held a golden rod, nearly equal in height to himself.
The pillars supporting the roof were gold, and at the peak of each pillar the ram's head, above which was the sun disk, and a single cobra seeming to view with disdain those before him.
"Tell us of this Zeus. What has he to do with Regulus? Why would Regulus deign to visit this one in his far off kingdom? What manner of Pharaoh is this Zeus?"
"Zeus? Zeus is the Father of the Universe. All that is, is, because Zeus so wills. You and I and Regulus and . . . and everything. We are but the product of Zeus' power."
Ezah raise his spear, a look of shock on his face.